Tuesday, Nov. 17 in College Basketball

This is the daily feature of the blog. Each night, recaps of games from the night before, followed by a small preview of upcoming games for the day. Since this is the first of the year, I'll start by recapping some important weekend/Monday games:

Friday, Nov. 13th

Pretty much every ranked team played a cupcake and won (save for one school). Impressive debuts included: Kansas (beat Hofstra 101-65, Xavier Henry with 27 in his first college game), Michigan State (beat FL Gulf Coast 97-58 after a slow start), Duke (beat UNC Greensboro 96-62), Minnesota (beat Tennessee Tech 87-50), Illinois (beat SIU-Edwardsville 96-69. 96 points for U of I???). Notable close calls include Washington, who needed 30 points from Isaiah Thomas to beat Wright State 74-69, and UConn, who got 27 from Jerome Dyson in a 75-66 win over William & Mary. The one big upset of the night: Rider over Mississippi St., 88-74. Rider did shoot 10 of 16 from three, but my pick to win the SEC isn't looking so hot right now. Oh, and Arkansas won 130-68, with Rotnei Clarke shooting 13 for 17 on threes and scoring 51 points.

Saturday, Nov. 14th

Dayton 90, Creighton 80 - The Bluejays were up by as many as 10 in the first half but the Flyers righted the ship in the 2nd half and pulled away late to pick up the early-season win. Creighton, down two of its top forwards, went into the game in a zone and pressured Dayton out of their rhythm. Creighton also shot 56% in the first half. At the start of the 2nd, Chris Wright had his way, scoring 7 points, blocking a shot, and creating 3 fouls in the first two and a half minutes en route to 25 points overall. He will need to have those kinds of days when Dayton gets into funks offensively. Chris Johnson added 18 points and 15 rebounds. As for Creighton, they missed out on a great chance for an at-large win, and that could come back to haunt them in March.

Butler 73, Davidson 62 - The Bulldogs avoided an early-season disappointment by putting it together in the 2nd half after shooting 31% with 7 turnovers in the first 16.5 minutes. Gordon Hayward had 17 and Willie Veasley had 15.

Michigan 97, Northern Michigan 50 - Manny Harris had 18 points, 13 boards, and 10 assists... and this was with 8 minutes in the game. Michigan shot 57% from the field and they rolled.

Sunday, Nov. 15th

More Top 25 teams rolling over nobodies. UNC held off Valpo to win 88-77 and go 3-0, for what it's worth.

Monday, Nov. 16th

Kentucky 72, Miami (OH) 70 - I don't think John Wall anticipated needing to make a 15 footer to win in his college debut, but that's just what he did. Wall finished with 19 points and is already cementing the hero status Kentucky fans gave him thr moment he set foot on campus. Miami packed it in and prevented Wall and Bledsoe from driving much of the game, but the Wildcats still got 32 points in the paint and outrebounded the RedHawks by 12 (mostly due to Patterson and Cousins). Despite this, Miami (OH) shot 15 of 26 from three and jumped out to an 18 point lead in the first half. While they played better offensively today, Kentucky has looked very sloppy early on in the season. Probably all the youth trying to come together as one team (hey, someone warned you all these freshman on one team isn't going to go over so smoothly. Don't worry, I fully expect them to figure it out this year. At some point... maybe)

Western Kentucky 69, Wisconsin-Milwaukee 65 - Best 1st Round game of the Preseason NIT so far. After a quick start by the Hilltoppers, this game remained close the entire way. A. J Slaughter had 30 points on 10 of 16 from the field and WKU shot 51% from the floor compared to 42% for UW-Milwaukee.

Otherwise, Monday was mostly Top 25 teams winning tune-up games and minor upsets (such as Missouri St. over Auburn)

Tuesday:

Game(s) of the Night:

Memphis @ Kansas (St. Louis) - Look, it's the first daily preview and I'm already mired in indecision. We'll start with a rematch of the 2007 National Championship game (for what it's worth). Kansas looks like they could score over 100 points a night in every game they play. The key for Memphis is keeping up with the high-powered Jayhawk offense. Elliot Williams is good, and Wesley Witherspoon, Doneal Mack, and Roburt Sallie form a solid backcourt, but there's definitely a talent disparity between the two squads. Look for Kansas to pound it inside with Aldrich against a smaller Tiger team.

Pick: Kansas 90, Memphis 75

Gonzaga @ Michigan State - In my opinion, the better of the two games. Michigan State is not going to blow anyone out of the water with size or athleticism or shooting, but they do a lot of things very well and are a complete team. Well, except at center. Meanwhile, the Zags are attempting to replace a lot of key contributors from last year. Matt Bouldin will be the leader of this squad, as he was on Saturday vs. Miss Valley State. Gonzaga played a lot of guys in their first game and might have a deep rotation as Mark Few tries to find his regulars. Gonzaga, as always, has a tough non-conference schedule, with games still upcoming against Washington State, Wake Forest, @ Duke, Oklahoma, and @ Illinois, so we'll know what the Zags are made of by mid-January.

Pick: Michigan State 82, Gonzaga 70

Others to watch:

Temple @ Georgetown - Time to find if G-Town is for real, early. This isn't a big test, but Temple is the kind of team that can get you if you're not ready.

Arkansas @ Louisville - Might be a fun non-conference matchup between power conference schools. Louisville's season debut will be against an Arkansas team that is only dressing 8 guys due to suspensions.

Northeastern @ Siena - Bracket Busters in November. One of the top teams in the Colonial faces off against one of last year's cinderellas who is currently just outside the Top 25. Fun times.